


Little Gestures of Kindness

by thesometimeswarrior



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Between Books 2 and 3, Canon Compliant, Ficlet, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Missing Scene, Prison
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-04
Updated: 2017-08-04
Packaged: 2018-12-11 05:37:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11707914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesometimeswarrior/pseuds/thesometimeswarrior
Summary: "I have lost my son, my birthright, my freedom, and—most recently—my nephew," continues the old man. "I hardly think this small act of mercy will appear significant in comparison."Iroh and his guard, on his last day of captivity in Ba Sing Se.





	Little Gestures of Kindness

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from Season 3 Episode 10: "The Day of Black Sun pt. 1"

“I am being sent home, then.” 

The Dai Li agent nearly starts. He’s been guarding this cell for _weeks_ , since the coup, and the man inside has never so much as sighed, much less spoken. _How_ the Dragon of the West knows this information is likewise a mystery, considering the guard himself only received the order moments ago in the form of a scroll from a Fire Nation messenger. But the old man is right; tomorrow, they will bring the him to the Outer Wall, where the Fire Nation military will formally assume custody of him and begin the long journey to bring him as a prisoner back to the Fire Nation.

Despite his momentary surprise, the agent assumes the monotone required by his profession when he responds to the captive. “Perhaps.”

“Might I ask how I am going to be transferred?”

“And why would I tell you something like that?”

“I am not plotting an escape, if that is what concerns you.” The voice from the cell seems resigned, dismissive. "But very well, I do not need to know. I have a favor to request.”

“A _favor_?”

“Yes. I do not wish to see the Agrarian Zone.”

It's such a strange request—and such a _harmless_ one—that the agent is once again caught off-guard. “What?” 

“My son perished there. I do not know precisely where, but in the Agrarian Zone. I avoided the area, while I lived here. To see it once, quickly, from the monorail as I entered the city months ago was difficult enough, and I imagine that however you plan to transport me will be significantly more time-consuming than that was. If I am forced to spend the entire journey looking at all the places where my son…where he might have…well, I would like to spare myself the anguish.”

The voice is nonchalant, the guard thinks. But he's a member of the Dai Li, is adept enough at reading human expression to know how much effort the old man must exert to make it that way.

"I have lost my son, my birthright, my freedom, and—most recently—my nephew," continues the old man. "I hardly think this small act of mercy will appear significant in comparison." 

Something minute snaps in the agent, and it changes nothing, changes _almost_ nothing...“I’ll see what I can do."

* * *

The next day, after he is dragged from the cell and bound in chains to the steel carriage, the Dragon of the West is blindfolded.

The other Dai Li agents laugh, commend the guard for his genius idea, for how pathetic and helpless it makes the old Fire Nation General look. It's practical, they say, further prevents the man's unlikely escape. A few of the Fire Nation soldiers join in, say that such humiliation suits a traitor.

Neither the prisoner nor the guard bother to correct any of them.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! I love comments!


End file.
